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Topic: Oil of Oregano

Forum:
Complementary and Holistic Medicine and Treatment — Complementary medicine refers to treatments that are used WITH standard treatment. Holistic medicine is a term used to describe therapies that attempt to treat the patient as a whole person.

I want to share something, that should not be taken as advice, put purely an observation. When my wife's liver metastasis caused her ascites, the Onc first misdiagnosed it as gas and bloating. After trying everything he recommended, we tried oregano oil, because it is supposed to kill infections in the upper GI tract. Well, it had no benefit whatsoever in that regard, but, we saw the first of the rapid drops in tumor markers. So, my wife continued to take oregano oil during her breaks from xeloda (2 weeks on 2 weeks off, sometimes 2 on, 3 off, sometimes 1 week on, 1 week off), and we saw continuing drops in tumor markers. Fast forward around 8 months or more, and tumor markers continue to drop steadily. I chart this on an excel spreadsheet. Consistent drops. Even during the weeks off chemo. Maybe that's normal? My wife stops taking the oil of oregano for 5 weeks. Figuring, what's the point? Next test of her blood, virtually no drop in tumor markers. Onc says that's probably as low as they are going to get. So, remembering the oil of oregano, I get my wife to start taking it during her time off (2-3 weeks) during the next 5 weeks. And lo and behold, a significant drop in tumor markers again. Some 14% drop. Could it be related to the oil of oregano? Can't say, but she will continue to take the oil of oregano during her time off. I don't feel good about combining supplements with time on the drug. Both xeloda and oil of oregano are known to be strong inhibitors of the enzyme cyp2c9. By the way, I put 10 drops of oil of oregano in a gelatin capsule, so she doesn't have to taste it. She takes 3 capsules per day, only during her breaks from xeloda. I will report back in another 5 weeks when she gets her blood tested again.

Husband11: thanks for this encouraging report. I hope your wife is continuing to do well. I wonder if you might be able to share with us whether your wife has seen improvement in her tumor status? Have assessments/imaging provided information on whether they are shrinking while using this therapy? Thanks again!

She has switched to Palbociclib / Ibrance and letrozole two months ago, in order to get a break from xeloda side effects, and not miss the deadline for availability of ibrance under compassionate basis in Canada. Eventually it will be available here for everyone, but right now it isn't, as the provinces work out funding. All her tests and scans up to the end of xeloda have been good, and tumor markers continued to fall. We always implemented the oil of oregano during her time off.

Now that she is on letrozole continuously and ibrance for 3 weeks in a row, with a week off, we dare not touch the oil of oregano, as it is a strong inhibitor of cyp2c9, cy3a4, which is needed for both drugs.

Unfortunately we saw some rise in tumor markers after her first month in ibrance. Tomorrow we go in for the two month checkup, and will get further blood test results. Hopefully we don't see signs of progression of the cancer. If we do, its likely the end of ibrance, and I would prefer back to xeloda. I'll keep you posted.

You are a good concerned husband to monitor your wife and post on this forum to benefit all. I will take Oil of Oregano too. I just got diagnosed and have not started any treatments but I will remember this. Thank you.

Good news after the latest MRI while on Palbo plus letrozole. All is stable. One tumor marker is slighly lower than ever (CEA) and one is one point higher than its lowest point (CA15-3).

I can't really say the tumors shrank, or not, because here cancer was very diffuse, showed up like cirrhosis of the liver instead of cancer like, and was only finally diagnosed as cancer after a biopsy.

Her latest MRI has the radiologist so puzzled, he called our Oncologist to make sure a biopsy had been taken, because all he sees is something that looks like cirrhosis of the liver, not cancer. That's good in some respect, but its always been that way. She had a small number is discrete tumors, and the rest of it diffuse. From an imaging point of view, its not classical appearing liver metastasis, but the biopsy confirms it is breast cancer, ER /PR positive.

Because we are concerned about drug interactions, and the letrozole is taken continuously, my wife is taking very few supplements currently. She takes metformin, daily vitamins, and various mushroom extracts (maitake D, 6 mushroom blend and chaga tea).

There has been a considerable interest in the identification of natural plant foods for developing effective agents against cancer. Thus, the anti-tumour effects of oregano in the in vivo and in vitro breast cancer model were evaluated.

METHODS:

Lyophilized oregano (ORE) was administered at two concentrations of 0.3 and 3 % through diet. The experiment was terminated 14 weeks after carcinogen administration. At autopsy, mammary tumours were removed and prepared for histopathological and immunohistochemical analysis. Moreover, in vitro evaluation in MCF-7 cells was carried out.

RESULTS:

Low-dose ORE suppressed tumour frequency by 55.5 %, tumour incidence by 44 %, and tumour volume by 44.5 % compared to control animals. Analysis of rat tumour cells showed Ki67, VEGFR-2, CD24, and EpCAM expression decrease and caspase-3 expression increase after low-dose ORE treatment. High-dose ORE lengthened tumour latency by 12.5 days; moreover, Bcl-2, VEGFR-2, CD24, and EpCAM expression decrease and caspase-3 expression increase in carcinoma cells were observed. Histopathological analysis revealed a decrease in the ratio of high-/low-grade carcinomas in both treated groups. In vitro studies showed that ORE decreased survival and proliferation of MCF-7 cells. In ORE-treated MCF-7 cells, an increase in cells expressing sub-G 0/G 1 DNA content and an increase in the percentage of annexin V/PI positive MCF-7 cells were observed. In vitro, both caspase-dependent and possible non-caspase-dependent apoptotic pathways were found. The deactivation of anti-apoptotic activity of Bcl-2, a decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential, and the activation of mitochondrial apoptosis pathway were observed in the ORE-treated MCF-7 cells.

CONCLUSIONS:

Our results demonstrate, for the first time, a distinct tumour-suppressive effect of oregano in the breast cancer model.

I bought a bag of 1000 empty gelatin capsules at a local health food store. They look like what you get many supplements in, only they are empty and you pull the two halves apart. They are for filling with whatever. They were cheap. I put 10 drops in each capsule, then put the two halves together. It saved my wife having to taste the oil of oregano. She does say she burps it up a bit though.

Make sure it doesn't interact with any drugs you are taking. As well, cycle off and on, as it affects your gut bacteria, being antiseptic. It might pay to take a probiotic during the weeks off it. My wife didn't experience any GI problems from it, but someone else might be more sensitive, or might have problems if you take it continously.

Husband11, I made my first capsules and learned two things: 1-I need a dropper to make it easier to put the oil in the capsule (I spilled some on my hands) and 2-if you don’t wash the spilled oil off your hands or rinse the capsule before you take it the excess oregano will get on your tongue and make your mouth burn

I also have a question. Do you add a carrier oil with the oregano or is it only oregano oil in the capsule?

Just straight from the bottle (which has a dropper on the lid) into the capsule. 10 drops fills the capsules we have around 1/3 full. I believe the oil you buy is already cut with a carrier. The degree to which it is diluted probably varies. Maybe cheaper brands are more diluted.

As a side note, about a year ago I put oil of oregano on some sun damaged skin that had keratosis, it burned when first applied. Did it for several days and nights. The keratosis is gone. Beats getting it cut out or frozen off. Also, no scar.

Husband I ordered some oilof oregano. I loked up the one you mentioned and a guy did a very detailed extensive review and he liked that one the best but said another one was just as good but more expensive. I think it was the brand P37 or something like that. I ordered that one because it came in capsules and each cap is equivalent to 6 drops. Going to try it on the week off X. I'm thinking 5 pills per day would be 30 drops total.

I hope you get good results. Let us know if you see any change. It's vital to not take it while on any drugs that it could interact with, and possibly vital to cycle it, as taking it continuously in high doses might cause GI tract problems, as its a strong natural antibiotic. People take it for all sorts of infections. The reason my wife started on it was because we thought she had an intestinal tract infection. Turned out it was ascites from her liver problems. Disappointed the Onc didn't clue into that considering her metastasis was to her liver.

I will definitely report back! I will only take it on the week off. It might be hard to tell what if anything it's doing because so far my marker is going down pretty fast. He made my next appt for 2 months instead of the usual 1. It makes you wonder how it would work on its own. We have to be prepared for when treatments run out after all. I've been hoarding all of the cancer meds I have left over when switching to a different one. Depending how much time goes by they might work again. I resent when the onc and/or ins decides that we can't have a certain drug.